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AO: Things are looking really good. I was able to blend the old AO with the new vbulletin 4.2 style quite well. If anyone is interested I still need help with status icons, ranks/badges, favicons, etc. Feel free to send me a PM if you want to help out!!

AO: Things are looking really good. I was able to blend the old AO with the new vbulletin 4.2 style quite well. If anyone is interested I still need help with status icons, ranks/badges, favicons, etc. Feel free to send me a PM if you want to help out!!

I really like some of the elements of the 2013 styling, but it's still too dark for every day use. A style like that which uses light grey as a background field would brighten it up, but keep it subdued enough to be easy on the eyes. When I see an all-black forum I instantly think "video game."

Right now the 2005 styling is my favorite not because it looks the best, but because it hits that happy medium of being too bright and too dark.

As probably the first to ask about doing this, thank you again guys for taking the time to put all this work in.

The 2005 is looking very much like AO. I think if you could get the background of the post text blocks just a touch darker (or maybe a little more color), just something to reduce the overall contrast between that and the overall background just a little bit more (without washing it out like the 2003 template or lightening up the background) it would be darn close to where we left off on the old forum.

I don't know if the web design flavor of the month is super dark like the 2013 template or the trend is still on the glaringly ( ( :cough: apple :cough: ) white, but from style guide studies I read many years ago, for the average person, light/colored text on black background (think old b/w or green/yellow screens) is actually worse on the eyes long-term than the reverse. Not that I mind honestly either way, but just thinking on making everyone's use of the site most enjoyable.

Last, the 2013 is maybe too far off from the recognized "brand" that is AO to risk losing some of that branding? Don't know how important that is overall, but just another $.02.